News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending June 15 2012

    Eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits that currently applies to individuals with incomes as low as ,000 and married couples with incomes less than ,000. .In setting prices, drug makers rarely acknowledge the considerable federal funding and research that have helped develop their products; they have not offered taxpayer-investors financial payback. .The Notch Fairness Act In House And Senate … Continued

  • How A Tax On Wealthy Retirees Ended Up A Tax On The Middle Class

    To get your health services through Original Medicare. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, deductibles and co-pays may apply to these preventive services. Check with your plan to see what costs and rules apply. .In 2015, after a national coalition of senior advocacy groups (including TSCL) demanded action, Congress reduced the increase in Part B premiums from 9.30 per month to 1.80 per month, which was still a very high increase of 16.1 percent. The premium included a "repayment" amount that was added to monthly premiums of all beneficiaries in future years to recover the cost of the reduced premium rate in 2016 over time. .While not all generics work the same or as well as brand name drugs, they do work much or most of the time and the savings would be enormous. … Continued

Last week we learned that the top attorney in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), warned department officials that the program is potentially illegal because it could be in violation of federal election laws. .(Washington, DC) – The upcoming Supreme Court Case on immigration could have significant consequences for Social Security and Medicare, says a report , released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments April 18th on President Obama's executive action on immigration. The president's immigration policy changes would allow an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants, including parents of U.S. citizens or lawful residents, to obtain temporary deferral of deportation, work authorization and potential access to Social Security and Medicare benefits. .The extra time was needed because although both houses of Congress were finally able to pass the needed legislation, the bill was nearly 5,600 pages in length. It is probable that no member of Congress actually read the entire bill and likely very few Congressional staff members read it either. .To learn how you can get involved visit . .In normal political times neither party would allow Medicare to be cut. But because of our current highly partisan times, it would require ten Republicans to join with Democrats to stop the cuts to Medicare with new legislation if reconciliation were used. .Just years before they were set to retire, these individuals learned that they would receive significantly lower benefits than originally anticipated. The problem has grown and compounded over time, and TSCL believes that in order to make the program more equitable, some compensation for the injustice should be provided. We enthusiastically support Rep. Meng's Notch Fairness Act, and we were pleased to see one new cosponsor sign on this week. .As part of the economic stimulus bill just passed by Congress those sharp cuts have been put on pause. .Some Medicare Advantage plans offer low cost dental insurance as an additional benefit. Before adding the coverage, always look into the details. Coverage can be very skimpy for the money, and you might be able to find better coverage for the same amount of money from a stand-alone dental plan. .When the Office of Inspector General matched the 6.5 million Social Security numbers against the Social Security Administrations file, it found 67,000 of the numbers were used to report wages for people other than the cardholders, a sign the numbers were used for illegal work. According to the Associated Press, one Social Security number was used 613 different times. An additional 194 numbers were used at least 50 times each.